
Igwe Michael Okekeuche, the Paramount ruler of Enugu-Agidi, in Anambra State has cried out over threat to his life and those of his cabinet members.
He told newsmen in Abuja
that his life and those of my cabinet members and families have been threatened by the land grabbers and their cohorts.
He adding that all efforts to get the Nigeria Police Divisional headquarters in Abagana as well as the Anambra State Police Command to intervene in the crisis proved abortive.
He alleged that the land grabbers operate with the active connivance of a powerful retired senior police officer, precisely a retired DIG, who he claims takes royalty from their illicit sales of lands in exchange for police protection.
He said:“This crisis has been smouldering since 2019, and we have been doing everything humanly possible to manage and contain it. However, the crisis peaked on February 15, 2021 when some violent hoodlums sponsored by one Mr. Izuchukwu Okafor (Okekeonyeocha), Mr. Chidi Okoye and Chukwuebuka Onuorah just to name a few invaded the community and unleashed violence on hapless members of my community.
The armed hoodlums mounted multiple road blocks and went from house to house hunting down their victims who they inflicted with various degrees of injuries.
“My palace was overrun and my security guards overwhelmed. Over 17 youths suffered various degrees of injury. Today, both the victims and those that survived their attacks live in fear and despair.
“You may be wondering why the sudden eruption of crisis in Enugwu Agidi: The issue is that a certain Mr. Izuchukwu Okafor (Okekeonyeocha), Mr. Chukwuebuka Onuorah, Chidi Okoye and others constituted themselves into a deadly militia and cult group perpetrating all manners of lawlessness in Enugwu Agidi. Their unwholesome activities were first noticed with concern in 2019. It is not surprising that since the commencement of their nefarious activities we have witnessed increase in the cases of rape, robbery, kidnapping and violence in and around Enugwu Agidi” he added.
He said“the most visible of their criminal activities is land banditry. They habitually deal on ancestral lands without the mandate of the community and neither do they render accounts to the community. They use proceeds from these illicit transactions of sales of Enugwu Agidi lands to induce the police and influence most of our youths whom they took to shrines to swear oaths of allegiance to fraternal silence.This by itself has created tense situation among the populace.
“To avert breakdown of law and order, the town union government after wide consultations with different stakeholders intervened by initiating a streamlined process governing the sales of lands over four (4) plots in Enugwu-Agidi part of which requires verification and authentication of rightful ownership of lands before sales. This arrangement did not go down well with the land bandits hence their threat to the peace and order of the town” he stated.